Huskar 180: Remembering the 26 children whose deaths changed history

Today, they would have been at school, yet when a violent thunderstorm sent torrents of floodwater into the pit, at Nabbs Wood by the village of Silkstone Common near Barnsley, they were underground, some working as trappers, alone for up to 12 hours a day, opening and shutting doors as cart loads of coal were taken up to the surface, others were charged with taking the coal their fathers had dug out up to the daylight above.

But their deaths on that fateful day on July 4, 1838, were not entirely in vain. A Royal Commission set up after the disaster finally banned children under 10 from working in mines in 1842.

This July, 180 years after their deaths, the 26 children will once again be remembered by the communities of Silkstone and Silkstone Common, just as they do every 10 years.

Five days of events organised by schools, churches, community and voluntary groups, will finish will a reception and remembrance service on Sunday July 8 at All Saints Church in Silkstone, where a memorial to the children stands.

Descendents from the families torn apart by the disaster will be in attendance, with the service led by the Bishop of Wakefield, Tony Robinson, and Rev Maureen Browell.

Alan Thompson, who is coordinating more than 15 events as part of the Huskar 180 Project, said the children who died in the disaster were still remembered “in the minds and hearts” of those in the small communities around the former mine.

“It seems barbaric now to imagine children working in the mines,” he said. “The significance of the loss and grief of the community following their death led to a groundswell of support that eventually led to a change in the law.”

As part of the commemoration, author Alan Gallop, who wrote the book Children of the Dark, which covered the disaster, will be speaking to local schoolchildren about what life was like for children in Victorian times.

Barsley-born folk singer Kate Rusby has written a song about the disaster that will be performed for the first time by her mother at a concert featuring local choirs at All Saints Church on July 5. Silkstone Common School have created a flowerbed while Silkstone School have designed a labyrinth in memory of the children. Members of the Kimblio Trust, a UK-based charity which works with children working today in the cobalt mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo are holding an exhibition at the church.

Jane Raistrick from Silkstone Heritage Group, which has compiled information on each of the 26 children, and herself had family who died in the disaster - Isaac Wright, 12, and his brother Abraham, eight, said: “The 1838 disaster was both an emotional and economic disaster for the families involved. Some families lost two children, and many more lost nieces and nephews as well as their own children.

“They were also faced with the prospect of then having to send their younger children down the mine into a dangerous situation.”

Memorial fundraising hits halfway

A FORMER mining community has rallied in support of plans to build a memorial to 10 people killed in one of the worst disasters of its time.

As reported by The Yorkshire Post in March, former MP David Hinchliffe is spearheading a campaign for a memorial to those lost - which included six children - at Norcroft Colliery near Barnsley in 1821.

Mr Hinchliffe, who lost a relative in the disaster, said around half of the £3,000 needed had now been raised.

“The fundraising campaign is bringing people together - it may take a while, but we’re almost there,” he added.